Let’s say grace; now go to your cubicle

The building I work in was sold last week. Not entirely great news for my group but we’ve known for the past 2 years that it was coming. We all kind of hoped that the transition process would spread out over at least another 6-8 months, what with closing issues, re-structuring, probably some construction (bring back the cafeteria!). But the buyer has the ability to move in asap. As in 30 days. Max. So everyone is playing cubicle leapfrog to get where they need to be in order to prepare for the new company’s arrival.

As a joke, our site manager sent out an email last week dispelling (or possibly refueling) some rumors about the buyer. Here are a few and see if you can guess who our buyer may be:

• No more caffeinated drinks will be allowed in the building
• Men will be required to wear white shirts, women only dresses
• Employees will be required to hand over 10% of their pay to the building supervisor each month
• The work day will begin with prayer
• Having a special “badge” will allow you into secret areas; those who want to obtain a special “badge” need to talk to the two men in dark suits with name tags
• No more smoking allowed outside the front part of the building (actually not a rumor, very true)
• A swear jar will be set up, $1 for every word you say; after $20, you have to go talk to your “site supervisor”

Soooo…any guesses? And no, in case you guessed Jehovah’s Witnesses, they couldn’t qualify for the loan. It’s the buyer’s IT group that is moving into our - whoops, no longer ours - their  building and it must be gigantic in numbers; they are taking out the gym (dang it, why??), all of our conference rooms (aw, gee darn, no more HUGE meetings), reducing the size of the cafeteria (but apparently there will be food), and pushing us all onto one side on the top floor. I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I’m used to the quiet “calm” that exists on my side. And now instead of 27 people who are spread out across 150 cubicles, there will now be 139.

One good thing for me, I don’t have to move! There are only 8 of us who got to keep our own little space and not have a cube mate. As fate would have it, I am one of the lucky folk. I didn’t want to have to deal with sharing private conversations (”Hello, The Guy?” “Angie, I can hardly hear you - why are you whispering?” “Because I’m sitting three feet away from another person…and they have Cheeto breath. And they eat kippers.”), or just not having the freedom to stretch out if I need to. Instead of everyone else’s 6 square feet of space, I have 12. Ooooooo! The envy, it just flows.

A potential problem I do foresee is that the way they are finishing construction, our group will only have access to 1 bathroom. Ahem, WHAT?!? No, no, no! I feel like I almost have my own private bathroom because I sit on a side with so few people. Now all those people will be encroaching upon my private water closet space? This chaps my hide almost as much as losing the gym…

It will be interesting to see how this move/construction/reformation shapes up over the next 3-4 weeks. Our gigantic building that currently has 156 occupants (but can house 1500) will soon be overflowing. Crap…there goes all the free parking space.

 

Olympics in one

Unbelievable

Gyped

Heartache

Inspiring

Disappointing

(Michael Phelps, Alicia Sacramone, Diego Hypolita, Dara Torres, Tyson Gay, Lauren Williams, Bernard Lagat)

 

The best care and quality - Wilsons Paint and Flooring

I can breathe a little easier right now. About one hour ago I was panicking and in a state of frustration when the carpet cleaning guy I had hired to come and re-stretch a portion of my carpet and clean it, called to say, Oops, we don’t re-stretch carpet anymore. Excuse me, what?!? Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place when I hired you?!? And why would you tell me that exactly 5 minutes before you are supposed to BE AT MY HOME. Everything was ready, moved out of the way, just needing to be fixed up and cleaned. Instead, zippo. Zilch. NADA.

I’m having an open house tomorrow, for you see, I am selling my home. I would like to move closer to work so that I don’t spend $700 a month in gas (if you think I’m kidding about that number…). This open house is a big deal. I want my home to shine and I had one little problem area I needed re-stretched and I wanted my carpets professionally cleaned. I called a company advertised in the yellow pages as being able to “re-stretch and clean”. FALSE advertising.

Once that company called to cancel, I started flipping through the phone book as fast as I could, calling three different companies before I found a guy who referred me to Wilsons Quality Paint and Flooring in Kaysville. I called, talked to Matt, explained my anxious state and worry and he said, “No problem, I will find somebody to come over and help you right away.”

Right away. Not tomorrow, or in a few hours, or next week - right away. Literally, within 20 minutes, Javier and Cisco were at my front door with equipment in hand. And they were extremely friendly. And oh so nice. And incredibly quick. And such great people I practically wanted to hug them every 5 minutes. Javier, you saved me!

So I can’t promote enough WILSONS QUALITY PAINT AND FLOORING in Kaysville. They are AWESOME!!!! Now someone just buy my home…

 

The one-two punch

These girls made me cry. I absolutely LOVE watching Olympics gymnastic competition and boy, tonight was fabulous! I’m staying up waaaay past my bedtime to cheer, scream, and clap at my TV to watch the USA win a few great medals. I am seriously going to be needing to catch up on missed sleep because I can’t turn it off. Oh well, it’s just two weeks.

One thing I love about the gymnastics is just the exuberance of Bela Karolyi. Seriously, he is cracking me up with Bob Costas as a color commentator. His animated gestures, that bushy hair and mustache, that fantastically thick Romanian accent. I’m just waiting for him to say the words “moose and squirrel”. Come on, just do it for fun.

 

So over it

Not to take anything away from the “spirit of camaraderie” during these Olympic times, but there are just some things that I feel a need to point out as items I am “so over”. There comes a point when you’ve had too much of a good thing (well, some things were never good from the beginning). I don’t know how or why some of the following items became popular or newsworthy, but all I just have to say is I am so over it!

• The “Go Green” movement - so over it. Great, I appreciate efforts of those who want to reduce, reuse, recyle, buy funny lightbulbs that you can’t just throw away, wear only organic cottons, eat only organic fruits and vegetables and meat and chocolate, don’t flush for a long time because it “wastes water”, picket grocery stores because they have plastic bags, bicycle to work because they don’t have a 50 mile one-way trip, lecture SUV drivers on their wasteful consumption of gasoline, don’t wear shoes because they are “pollutants”, don’t drive cars because they are “pollutants”, dislike cattle because they are “pollutants”, are Christmas Scrooges because lights on your house waste energy and electricity, think the earth is in a menopausal state - I could go on and on. Sheesh…be responsible but stop shoving propaganda down my throat, thank you very much.
• Those family rub-on stickers on the backs of cars, mini-vans, SUV’s. “Check us out! We have a cute stick-figure family - 3 boys, 2 girls, 1 dog, a fish, and look! I’m pregnant!” And now they actually have stickers where activities are involved! Are you kidding me? Who in the heck thought this up and then said, “You must place this in the left corner of your rear windshield”? Okay, maybe the first couple I saw several years ago were kind of cute and unique but as I am on the freeway A LOT, I happen to see 5,000 of these lovely creations A DAY and it is not cute anymore. Ugh! I am sooo over it.
• Celebrities having babies and it actually being headline news, or in fact, world breaking news. Congratulations. You figured out how it works and you can breed. Why do I care? So over it.
• Campaign 2008. ‘Nuff said.
• Expensive designer jeans. Now, before I talk about this one, I will admit that I own a few pairs of designer jeans - and I love them. What I am so over is the fact that the prices keep going up and the economy ain’t so hot with gas and housing issues and I’m thinking, ‘I can not be fiscally responsible and spend that much money on one pair of jeans. Darn you! Bring the prices down and maybe I can look at them again!’ So I just have to let it go. And truth be told, I’ve found some other great jeans I love that are maybe 1/5 of the cost (go to Maurice’s - love their jeans!).
• This stupid guy haircut. What the heck is wrong with you? Are you a pixie? Did you want to audition to be in Peter Pan? Or maybe it was A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a wood nymph? The flat bangs swiped across your head? Were you in a windstorm? A hurricane? Had a fight and lost to a hair dryer? What gives? Sooooo over it.
• The crazy game show phase that seems to have grown/multiplied/exploded on TV. I don’t even watch TV hardly at all and yet when I do, they are always advertising some new game show: Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?, Deal or No Deal, America’s Worst Jobs, Honey, Let’s Lie to Win Money, Marry Your Sister, Fight with Your Family - so over all of you.
• Gas prices in Utah. I would post something here with the letters W and T and F but that would be completely unlady-like of me and all I have to say is that I am so over it.
• Everyone and their dog. I’m not talking about you and your dog specifically; I’m talking about the saying, “Everyone and their dog”, as in “Did you go to that party last night? I swear, everyone and their dog was there.” Really? Is this the best metaphor for “hugely crowded circumstance” out there? Again, where did this phrase originate from? And why does it have to be a dog? Some people are cat people, or fish people, or reptile people. Is it because if you said, “Everybody and their snake was there” you’d get creeped out? What about “Everybody and their emu?” Or how about inanimate objects like “Everybody and their combine harvester”? But I am just so over the dog issue.
• These. What the freak…crazy printed hoodies that are just not attractive whatsoever.
• And they are usually paired with these. So over it!  
• Oh, and they typically come with the aforementioned haircut above. Blecccchh!

I think I’ll stop because frankly, I’m so out of time in being able to post anymore. I have to run to some very all-important meeting that makes me feel like I am actually accomplishing work, sitting around and sharing ideas and listening to double talk. Yeah…so over that too.

 

Dem’s my boys

I had to stay up late to watch this finish. I can’t get enough of Olympic competition, the comeback stories, the heart and soul that is worn proudly on the sleeves of so many athletes. These guys? They were AWESOME!

 

I was literally jumping off my couch, screaming encouragement during every move, and clapping so loud I’m sure neighbors wondered what guy I had over to my house this time (I jest! I JEST!). But in all seriousness, that was incredible performance by a group of guys who nobody expected to do anything much. Every perfect performance, every stuck landing, every huge smile that spread across their faces gave me chills. THAT is a great Olympic moment.

Besides the men’s gymnastics team, I dug all the swimming medals that we tacked on to our medal count. And anytime I can watch Michael Phelps swim…wow. And I mean WOW. I just love counting the muscles shown on his body…

(I saw this pic on Gigi’s blog but you can buy it as a poster; just FYI)

 

One euro, two euro, three euro, D’oh!

Apparently Spain is not happy with the face of King Juan Carlos on their euro. A candy shop owner in Aviles was counting cash in his till when he came across a funny face.

Hmmmm, maybe there’s some similarities between the two…at least Homer would probably give free donuts out to the people. I mean, who wouldn’t want a leader who would take regular siesta’s, be caught down at the local brew pub frequently, have a wife with babeish blue-beehivey hair, and strangle his son? At least there’s some comical relief. And apparently we all need a laugh more than we need politics. You can read a little more on the story here.

 

The little gremlin

Gremlins. That’s the name of Caden’s age group for football. I think it’s quite appropos considering that 8-9 year old little boys can all act like little monsters from time to time.

I just need to take a moment to brag, however, because Caden started his first year of football this past week AND received his first football award. He is the youngest on the team (he barely made the age cut by 10 days), does not have a father or older brothers teaching him to play football, and had no idea what “plays” were in football. I have taken him to a few games up at the U of U just for exposure to the sport - and because college football games are a riot. But before he started football this past Monday, I had no expectations whatsoever about his first year playing football. 

At the last day of practice on Friday (they practice every day from 6-8 p.m.), the head coach sat all the boys down and said they had an award to give out. “Each week we’re going to have a special award to give out to the boy who hustles, listens, and works the hardest at becoming the best football player he can be. This week the award goes to Brewster (clap, clap, clap). On Monday, he had never played football before in his life. Now look at him!”

The little running back got the Player of the Week award his first time playing football! Just wanted to share this parent’s proud moment.

(p.s. The Guy, who played football in high school and college, was so excited about the award, too. He was also thrilled that the position Caden seems to be placed in the most - running back - is the same position he played. Très intéressant, n’est-ce pas?)

 

Beautiful things

At some point in the next couple of months, I hope to open my own little etsy shop with my own tiny creations (with all my available free time - ha!). But until I reach that point where I feel I have enough inventory to sell (and it could be awhile), I am enjoying the whimsical art of others.

I love Anne Julie’s work because her pieces feature a sweet dark-haired girl with an angelic face. She, like so many others I’ve come to like, creates digital illustrations so that the tone and coloring of her pictures is rich and subtly atmospheric.

Kelly Rae does a lot of mixed media artwork that reminds me of a couple of classes I took with Paul Davis, one of my favorite instructors up at the U of U. The layering, the shapes, the subject - mmm, all my favorite.

Speaking of Paul Davis, this is one of my favorite paintings of his. Gosh, I would love to take another class from him! He teaches workshops down in Helper, Utah and maybe next summer I can work on taking a week off to have him teach me again…

 

From part to part

 

I love this picture. I love that it’s not completely in focus, it looks like a scene swirling with motion and emotion. I love that it’s with one of my favorite people in the world, my cousin April. I love that whenever we see each other, we have a million things to talk about and we love spending time just chatting away. I love that I grew up being so close to her and my other cousins. The other thing I love about it is that it looks like we’re caught in the middle of telling each other a great joke. You can tell we like each other, we’re having a great time, and boy, don’t you wish you could be in on the conversation too?

I just had to post this pic because I’ve been thinking a lot lately about people that mean something to me. I’m talking really mean something - as in, “So-glad-I-know-you-get-to-talk-to-you-be-your-best-friend-always-stay-in-touch” type of implication. Maybe it’s perhaps that I’ve spent this summer being close to just one person vs. spending more time with a variety of people. The past two summers I spent a lot of time going to parties, socializing at Lake Powell, datingdatingdating, and being a little more free and easy with my schedule. Not so much this summer.

There are many great and wonderful things to having someone to share your time and life with. I haven’t had a boyfriend (well, longer than a couple of months, anyway) for quite some time so spending the last 8 months with just one guy - The Guy - has been an interesting turn of events. I enjoy so much of what we do together. I relish our conversations, our ability to talk, be silly, debate, and just have fun one on one. But lately I have been missing the “glitz and glamour” (hahahaha) of single-girl-party-life that I had for a wee bit. I was always getting texts to “Come to J’s house @ 10; bring C&D (chips and dip)” or “My band’s up in PC (Park City); come up!” or “Wakeboarding - 7 a.m.; $20 for gas”. Sigh…it was exciting to be doing so much with so many. Yet it was extremely exhausting. There was a party every other weekend and most of these people just seemed to want to stay single forever; no responsibility, no hindrances, no cramp in their freedom. I was looking for something more.

So even though I have moments of wishful thinking or fond memories of what once was, I don’t regret or miss too often the busy days of yore. But a party or GNO here and there would be just so nice…

(April - have you rescheduled that party yet? )